Colorado unemployment rate steady at 8 percent

DENVER – Colorado’s jobless rate held steady at 8 percent in June, down from 8.3 percent a year ago.

Nationally, the unemployment rate for June was 9.5 percent.

Colorado labor department executive director Donald Mares said Tuesday that the state lost temporary U.S. Census Bureau jobs and some local government jobs in June, but there was stronger hiring in the private sector.

Estimates show the construction industry also didn’t lose any jobs for the second straight month.

The number of working Coloradans is shrinking though, along with the size of Colorado’s labor force. The labor department says there were about 2.4 million working Coloradans in June, down nearly 2 percent from June 2009.